4/24/2021

Defamation Law Suits - A Double-Edge Weapon

 
Think.

Why is the public at large willing to donate to the crowd-funding of Leong Sze Hian and Roy Ngerng the required full amount in double-quick time?

I think the public at large saw RED. Anger rose. Blood boiled internally with agony. Witnessing fellow citizens unable to fight and win any battle for a just, fair and equitable playing field in our own society, on our own land, many of them took action - the simplest and easiest action offered and opened in this long and winding path, the path of least obstacles and least resistance - for the redress of injustice done, as they saw it and as they saw fit to do it. So much so, many are willing to let their money do the talking and walking.

Their collective message to the power that be is very clear and enlightenedly significant.

It clearly shows that defamation law suits can be transformed into a double-edge weapon. It can operate both ways. One may gain something but one may also lose something. One may gain some monetary rewards from the judge's awards to fatten one's already over-bloated bank accounts, but one can also create a negative image of oneself, a more damaging aspect that one might not have calculated for.

In today's context, using the legal process and hoping to indirectly "intimidate" the public at large (via making someone become a scapegoat of convenience - killing a chicken to frighten the monkeys, so to speak) is not only a no-brainer but also of bad taste and is disgusting, to say the least. Time has changed. People have changed. It is not LKY's time anymore.

Today, there is the Internet and more people are educated and more discerning. They can and are willing to spend time to think deeper and obliquely into what the whole issue really means - the wider ramifications that involve the social fabrics of our society, of our beloved country.

Over time, this defamation law suits thingy has also become out of fashion and out of synchronization with the inspirations of our more matured society.

Our society, by and large, has already moved on beyond such old-fashion, petty, small-minded, convenient quick-fix. It's just like flogging a dead horse now. In fact, it has become counter-productive and counter-effective.

Instead of mending the alleged damage caused to one's reputation, it actually inflicts more damages to one's own image and reputation. Ironically, self-inflicted - like self-mutilation.

Lesson learnt:

Next time, before one starts suing and inadvertently also helps one's favourite lawyer becomes richer, think again. One may inflict more damages to one's own image and reputation instead of mending them. It's better to act like a lotus flower. Let whatever dirty or contaminated rain drops fall off by themselves without soiling its petals at all. That requires anger-management and self-restraint. That requires a person with a big heart, magnanimity and patience - a higher level of beings that money-making professional lawyers do not and will not understand.

If not possible, just simply think of what the public may perceive of one's actions. It is not a one-way traffic. It is definitely not going to be a win-win situation. It is highly probable to end up in a lose-lose conclusion.

In the eyes of the more discerning public today, they are likely to perceive a huge bulldozer ploughing through the earth and killing thousands of innocent helpless worms without an iota of feelings for the deaths and sufferings it has caused!

Even with artificial intelligence, a machine simply cannot have feelings!

Think harder.


SSO - 23 April, 2021


5 comments:

SSO said...

RB,

I have rewritten this piece to make it more rounded and palatable. May you please replace the earlier version above with the one below please. A thousand apologies. Thanks.


Defamation Law Suits - A Double-Edge Weapon

Think.

Why is the public at large willing to donate to the crowd-funding of Leong Sze Hian and Roy Ngerng the required full amount in double-quick time?

I think the public at large saw RED. Anger rose. Blood boiled internally with agony. Witnessing fellow citizens unable to fight and win any battle for a just, fair and equitable playing field in our own society, on our own land, many of them took action - the simplest and easiest action offered and opened in this long and winding path, the path of least obstacles and least resistance - for the redress of injustice done, as they saw it and as they saw fit to do it. So much so, many are willing to let their money do the talking and walking.

Their collective message to the power that be is very clear and enlightenedly significant.

It clearly shows that defamation law suits can be transformed into a double-edge weapon. It can operate both ways. One may gain something but one may also lose something. One may gain some monetary rewards from the judge's awards to fatten one's already over-bloated bank accounts, but one can also create a negative image of oneself, a more damaging aspect that one might not have calculated for.

In today's context, using the legal process and hoping to indirectly "intimidate" the public at large (via making someone become a scapegoat of convenience - killing a chicken to frighten the monkeys, so to speak) is not only a no-brainer but also of bad taste and is disgusting, to say the least. Time has changed. People have changed. It is not LKY's time anymore.

Today, there is the Internet and more people are educated and more discerning. They can and are willing to spend time to think deeper and obliquely into what the whole issue really means - the wider ramifications that involve the social fabrics of our society, of our beloved country.

Over time, this defamation law suits thingy has also become out of fashion and out of synchronization with the inspirations of our more matured society.

Our society, by and large, has already moved on beyond such old-fashion, petty, small-minded, convenient quick-fix. It's just like flogging a dead horse now. In fact, it has become counter-productive and counter-effective.

Instead of mending the alleged damage caused to one's reputation, it actually inflicts more damages to one's own image and reputation. Ironically, self-inflicted - like self-mutilation.

Lesson learnt:

Next time, before one starts suing and inadvertently also helps one's favourite lawyer becomes richer, think again. One may inflict more damages to one's own image and reputation instead of mending them. It's better to act like a lotus flower. Let whatever dirty or contaminated rain drops fall off by themselves without soiling its petals at all. That requires anger-management and self-restraint. That requires a person with a big heart, magnanimity and patience - a higher level of beings that money-making professional lawyers do not and will not understand.

If not possible, just simply think of what the public may perceive of one's actions. It is not a one-way traffic. It is definitely not going to be a win-win situation. It is highly probable to end up in a lose-lose conclusion.

In the eyes of the more discerning public today, they are likely to perceive a huge bulldozer ploughing through the earth and killing thousands of innocent helpless worms without an iota of feelings for the deaths and sufferings it has caused!

Even with artificial intelligence, a machine simply cannot have feelings!

Think harder.


SSO - 23 April, 2021.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

OK, done. Thought the second piece was a follow up.

SSO said...

RB,

A million thanks for that extra effort that I have caused.

SSO said...

Virgo49,

Thanks for the compliment and support.

SSO said...

Natural Justice - Karma - Part I

For the numerous commoners who are unable to find justice in the mundane man-made legalistic courts of law, you may find redress in the Court of Public Opinions. If you are also unable to find redemption in the Court of Public Opinions, you may find solace in Natural Justice.

Natural Justice is the law of cause and effect operating, hand-in-gloves, with the law of gravity. Every action begets a reaction or a series of reactions, plus what goes up must come down.

This is widely known as Karma (or Retribution in the Western world).

In simple words: "What you sow is what you get".

If you sow a sweet seed, you get sweet fruits; if you sow a sour seed, you get sour fruits; if you sow a bitter seed, you get bitter fruits. As simple as that.

And, if you flew up very high, you will fall down very hard; if you flew up not so high, you will fall down not so hard. The higher you climb, the deeper you fall. Understood?

Operating together with the law of gravity as one overall single entity, Karma is very real, irrespective of whether one believes it or not, irrespective of whether one realises it or not, and irrespective of whether one accepts it or not.

No one, not a single soul, can escape from his own Karma. You made it, you created it, you own it. It follows you like an obedient and well-trained dog, wherever you go, to heaven or to hell, in body and in spirit. In the air, on earth, underwater or in space, it follows you. Twenty-four hours a day and 365 days a year, without taking even a micro-second of holiday, it follows you, diligently, responsibly and tenaciously like your guardian angels. Even when you are already dead and your body burnt to ashes. You can't run away nor hide from it. It is actually YOU!

Yes, YOU. The BIG YOU. The Ever-So-Important YOU. The EGOISTIC YOU!

Without fail, Karma is always out there operating with an open heart and with a pair of open arms, ever-ready to embrace you and act upon your calls and desires, ever-ready to act upon your deliberate, mindless or careless actions derived from your body, speech and mind - both virtuous and non-virtuous, both meritorious and de-meritorious, both good and bad.

Take heart, do not despair or despise, Karma can be altered in due course to a certain extent and to a certain degree, if you learn how to do it, and apply it.

There are three types of Karma:

1. Sealed Karma - The karma accumulated in the past awaiting fruition. There is nothing anyone can do to alter its course.

2. Operating Karma - The Karma created in the past that is now rippening and the Karma being created at the present life-time that you are experiencing now. You can do something to alter the course of the Operating Karma if you know how, if you try hard enough consistently, diligently, repeatedly, rigorously and relentlessly. It is quite difficult but not impossible. You need to form good habits and remain positively-charge throughout your life, unfettered by all the bad things that come your way.

3. Stored Karma - The Karma accumulated in the present life-time that will only bear fruits in the future. You can also alter its course if you apply the remedial actions that you have been taught and hopefully learned whole-heartedly, persistently and resiliently. Never give up, no matter how difficult your situation may be. It is really very hardwork but you can do it if you put your heart to it during your entire lifetime.
It is not impossible. It is never too late to start cultivating good habits that will store good karma for you and your family. That's why some people spend their entire life-time in secluded hermitages or caves up in the mountains or deep in the jungles to practice throughout their whole lifetime, until they have achieved certainty. Until they have realized liberation. Until Enlightenment!

If you attain Enlightenment, your merits can benefit NINE generations, two generations up and seven generations down.

To be continued .....


SSO - 24 April 2021.